Producers say French streaming regulations could serve as an example for Canada

As the CRTC works out how it is going to wrangle streaming platforms and bring them into the regulatory sphere, France’s media production industry could provide a window into what the future might hold for Canadians. At the French Embassy on Tuesday, production agencies and associations from both countries came together for a conference to discuss streaming regulations and what France has seen in the two years since it passed its own rules in its on-demand audiovisual media services (SMAD) decree. The 2021 SMAD decree modernized France’s contribution regime, subjecting large international streaming platforms like Netflix Inc., Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Video, Walt Disney Co.’s Disney+, and Apple Inc.’s Apple TV to the same financing requirements of domestic broadcasters. Streamers now have to contribute at least 20 per cent of their annual revenues in France to French and European audiovisual and movie production. There are also key provisions for independent producers, requiring two-thirds of audiovisual contributions and three-quarters of movie contributions to go towards independent production. According to producers who attended the conference, the new regulations resulted in a boom in French investment and encouraged producers and streamers to effectively work together on a more level playing field. “When you have a positive experience, you have some kind of responsibility in sharing it with people who are facing the same issue and who are close to you,” said Iris Bucher, independent French producer and president of audiovisual producers union the USPA. “It's important to be treated as a partner, and to look each other in the eye and talk to each other in a positive and effective way,” she explained in an interview, “which means the streamers need us, the producers, and the producers need the streamers – so everybody needs ” That kind of “negotiating table” is missing in Canada and has resulted in a dysfunctional relationship between producers, broadcasters, and streamers, said Reynolds Mastin, CEO of the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA). “It was inspiring,” he said of Tuesday’s conference, noting that the success France has been seeing left him fired up for what comes next. “We have been working towards this goal of a modernized regulatory system for many years, and now it's just within reach,” said Mastin. CMPA hopes, the regulations that follow the CRTC’s proceedings, “ensure that we have a healthy Canadian production ecosystem, where all of the stakeholders that make up that system, are able to make their best contribution. And where we have, at the core of that system, a robust domestic independent production sector.” Mastin said that one of the best ways to achieve that is by collectively empowering Canadian producers, like their French counterparts, to have a constructive dialogue with other stakeholders, instead of having to go to third parties like the government or the CRTC “and ask them to solve our problems for us.” “ are, at the same time, very close in terms of the issues we’re confronted with, and quite far away,” said Bucher. Noting, not just the ocean in between the two countries, but also Canada’s unique proximity to the United States and France’s membership in the European Union, as key factors that contribute to the differences in their industries. “But we have lots of things in common, and are aiming at the same point, which is keeping our independence and being able to produce ambitious, really good .” – Reporting by Phalen Tynes-MacDonald at pcreed@thewirereport.ca and editing by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca

Producers say French streaming regulations could serve as an example for Canada

Broadcast | October 26, 2023

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us

Producers say French streaming regulations could serve as an example for Canada

Broadcast | October 26, 2023

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Related Stories

Netflix pulling funding from Canadian arts programs due to Online Streaming Act

CTRC considering updating eligibility for Independent Local News Fund

Blue Ant joins broadcasters in call for CanCon relief

Meta considers blocking Facebook news in Australia

Reuse & Permissions

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us